L.  Eorton 


An  Historical  Sermon 

concerning  the  Church   _ 

^Life  of  3.  Stephen's  PwiSl 

Lynn,  Massachusetts. 


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AN  HISTORICAL  SERMON 


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CONCERNING    THE 


Church  Life  of  S.  Stephen's  Parish, 


LYNN,  MASSACHUSETTS, 


Delivered  by  the  Rector, 

THE  REV.  FRANK  L.  NORTON,  D.D., 


On    Sunday    Morning,    November   ytb,    1886. 


LYNN,  MASS.  : 

PRESS    OF    THOS.    P.    NICHOLS,    24   MARKET    ST. 

1886. 


"3Lsk  note  of  the   vtoijs  that  arc    gast."  —  £> 


AN  HISTORICAL  SERMON. 


^  OMING  to  you  one  year  ago  to-da}^  —  upon  the  first  Sun- 
^^  day  in  November,  1885  —  your  Rector  naturally  desired 
to  know  the  history  of  the  Parish  from  its  beginning,  and 
so  determined  to  gather  what  material  he  could  from  contempo- 
raneous history,  from  Convention  Journals,  from  the  Parish 
Registers,  and  from  the  reminiscences  of  those  whose  own  lives 
have  run  parallel  with  that  of  the  Parish.  It  would  seem,  at  first 
sight,  an  easy  task  to  "  ask  now  of  the  days  that  are  past,"  but 
strangely  enough,  some  of  the  Rectors  left  no  records  at  all 
behind  them.  But  the  private  memoranda  of  one  of  the  first 
incorporators  of  the  Parish  have  made  good,  for  the  purposes 
of  the  historian,  these  lapses  in  clerical  duty.  To  ascertain  the 
number  of  baptisms,  confirmations,  marriages  and  burials,  to- 
gether with  the  money  contributed  year  by  year  for  missions 
and  charities,  (since  the  organization  of  the  Parish),  the  Rector 
has  examined  the  Convention  Journals  from  1837  to  the  present 
day,  and,  fortunately,  wherever  a  Rector  has  failed  to  make  a 
report,  the  Bishop's  address  has  noted  the  number  confirmed, 
or  a  faithful  Warden  has  kept  a  note,  or  the  good  memory  of 
a  Mother  in  Israel  has  filled  the  gap.  So  that  it  is  believed 
(jhal  the  entire  and  correct  statistics  of  Parish  life  and  movement 


4  AN    HISTORICAL    SERMON. 

are  now  collected  for  preservation.  And  here  the  Rector  would 
record  his  grateful  obligation  to  the  Hon.  Edward  S.  Davis  and 
the  Hon.  James  R.  Newhall  —  to  the  one  for  valuable  remi- 
niscences, and  for  the  use  of  the  Convention  Journals  (a  com- 
plete set  of  which  he  possesses),  together  with,  perhaps,  the 
widest  and  most  accurate  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the 
Church  in  this  Diocese,  of  any  layman  within  it;  and  to  the 
other,  for  matter  which,  as  a  successful  journalist  and  well- 
known  municipal  historian,  he  so  admirably  imparts.  From 
these,  and  like  sources,  the  following  brief  history  is  gathered. 

"  Ask  now  of  the  days  that  are  past,"  and  the  answer  comes, 
first,  away  back  in  1819,  sounding  like  the  tinkling  of  a  tiny 
mountain  rill,  which  afterwards  should  broaden  into  a  mighty 
river.  A  lad  walking  to  Salem,  and,  sometimes,  to  Marble- 
head,  attracted  to  the  Church  in  those  ancient  cities,  and  always 
longing  for  the  services  in  his  own  home  town,  was,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  the  tiny  grain  of  mustard  seed  which  has  grown  into  the 
goodly  tree ;  for  he  was  the  first  person  in  Lynn  who  knew  or 
cared  anything  for  the  Church  —  at  least,  sufficiently  to  make 
personal  sacrifice  for  it.  True,  in  1819,  some  gentlemen  at- 
tempted to  form  an  organization,  and  services  were  held  occa- 
sionally for  two  years,  but  it  was  a  half-hearted  enterprise,  and, 
upon  the  Bishop's  advice,  it  was  discontinued.  But  the  young 
lad  who  loved  the  Church  enough  to  walk  to  Salem  for  it,  still 
kept  the  faith,  and  later  on,  when,  in  1833,  he  had  arrived  at 
man's  estate,  he  invites  a  companion  —  a  thoughtful  youth — to 
accompany  him,  and  the  first  time  this  companion  entered  the 
Church  his  tastes'  were  gratified,  his  religious  sense  satisfied  ; 
and  being  a  popular  youth,  his  course  was  noticed.  These  two 
young  men,  Mr.  Edward  S.  Davis  and  Mr.  John  Bowler,  were 


AN    HISTORICAL    SERMON.  5 

advised  by  Bishop  Griswold  to  make  an  effort  to  start  a  church 
in  Lynn,  and  he  would  supply  the  clergyman  for  the  winter.  In 
1834,  triey  caUed  upon  all  whom  they  thought  inclined  to  join 
them,  and  on  November  27,  of  that  year,  Thanksgiving  Day, 
Edward  S.  Davis,  John  Bowler,  Alonzo  Lewis,  Richard  A. 
Fleming  and  James  Hilliker,  met  in  an  upper  room  —  the  old 
Liberty  Hall,  on  the  corner  of  Market  and  Essex  streets,  and 
resolved  themselves  into  a  Committee  for  the  purpose  of  sustain- 
ing worship  according  to  the  rights  and  usages  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church.  It  was,  indeed,  "  a  day  of  small  things." 
As  Lynn  Common  was  the  principal  center,  and  sometimes 
playfully  called,  "the  Court  end  of  the  town,'"  they  desired  to 
have  the  services  there  ;  so  one  of  the  Committee  called  upon 
the  minister  of  the  Congregationalists,  the  Rev.  David  Peabodv, 
and  asked  for  permission  to  hold  Episcopal  services  in  their 
house  of  worship.  The  minister  replied  that  if  the  Trustees 
were  willing,  he,  himself,  would  consent.  Each  Trustee  was 
asked,  and  each  gave  his  consent.  This  result  was  reported  to 
the  minister,  who  thereupon  told  the  Committemen  that  he  would 
permit  the  use  of  the  building  (now  the  Second  Universalist), 
provided  they  would  not  read  prayers  therein  !  Of  course, 
it  was  impossible  to  accept  the  offer  upon  such  terms,  as  the 
use  of  our  incomparable  Liturgy  was  the  longed  for  privilege 
sought,  and  "Common  Prayer''' — not  the  intellectual  meander- 
ings  of  an  individual  however  excellent  —  was  the  desire  of  this 
little  flock.  To  the  First  Methodist  Society,  the  Committeeman 
went  and  proffered  the  same  request;  and,  without  a  moment's 
hesitation,  it  was  granted,  and  more  than  that  —  one  of  the 
Trustees  offered  to  have  the  building  prepared  for  the  service, 
warmed  and   lighted.      On    the   evening    appointed,   the    Rev. 


6  AN    HISTORICAL    SERMON. 

W.  H.  Lewis  of  Marblehead,  assisted  by  the  Rev.  John  A. 
Vaughn  of  Salem,  and  three  or  four  Church  people  from  that 
city,  and  as  many  from  Lynn  —  to  make  the  proper  responses — 
held  the  first  service  of  the  new  organization.  The  people 
turned  out  to  witness  this  new  thing,  and  it  is  related  that  Mr. 
Lewis  made  such  an  impression,  that  a  year  or  two  afterward, 
when  he  came  again  to  officiate  for  the  infant  parish,  they  sent 
over  to  ask  the  Church  to  adjourn  and  meet  with  them  and  to 
invite  Mr.  Lewis  to  preach  for  them.  The  next  service  was  held 
at  the  Town  Hall,  when  Mr.  Vaughn  officiated,  and  the  third  at 
the  Lynn  Academy,  before  the  close  of  1834.  On  the  first  of 
January,  1835,  regular  services  were  begun  at  Liberty  Hall, 
and  continued  with  little  interruption  to  nearly  the  end  of  the 
year,  being  served  by  various  clergymen  as  they  could  be  ob- 
tained, when  the  place  of  worship  was  removed  to  what  had 
been  Masonic  Hall,  which  was  fitted  up  for  their  use. 

In  January,  1836,  the  Rev.  Milton  Ward,  M.D.,  became 
the  first  minister,  and  the  Church  was  regularly  organized  under 
the  name  of  Christ  Church,  its  officers  were  chosen,  and  a 
Church  edifice  was  erected  during  the  year.  It  was  built  on 
North  Common  street,  nearly  opposite  Church  street,  and  on  the 
20th  of  July,  1837,  ^  was  consecrated.  Bishop  Griswold  and  a 
number  of  the  Clergy  (sixteen)  met  at  the  house  of  one  of  the 
Wardens.  The  dignified  and  imposing  Prelate  in  his  robes, 
and  the  vested  Clergy  in  procession,  marching  across  the  Com- 
mon—  then  all  unfenced  and  open  —  was  a  spectacle  new,  in- 
deed, to  Lynn,  but  a  glad  and  grateful  one  to  eyes  bedimmed 
with  joyful  tears  that  at  last  a  Church  was  really  built.  At  the 
entrance  the  Clergy  were  met  by  the  two  Wardens,  Mr.  Davis 
and  Mr.  Bowler,  and  so,  proceeding  up  the  center  alley  to  the 


AN    HISTORICAL    SERMON.  7 

chancel,  they  recited  the  24th  Psalm.  How  like  a  paean  of  vic- 
tory must  the  words  have  sounded  to  those  men  who  had  toiled 
and  suffered,  and  to  the  women  who  had  wrought  and  prayed 
for  this  glad  day.  "  Lift  up  your  heads,  O,  ye  gates,  and  be 
ve  lift  up  ve  everlasting  doors  ;  and  the  King  of  Glorv  shall 
come  in  !" 

Bishop  Griswold's  sermon  was  from  the  text  S.  yohn  If.  13. 

"  And  when  He  had  made  a  scourge  of  small  cords.  He  drove  them  all  out  of 
the  Temple,  and  the  sheep  and  the  oxen  :  and  poured  out  the  changers'  money, 
and  overthrew  the  tables." 

It  was  doubtless  a  discourse  upon  the  preservation  of 
God's  House  from  all  unhallowed  uses.  It  was  preached  at 
a  time  when  such  counsel  was  sorely  needed,  when  too  little 
was  known  about  the  worship  of  God  in  any  beauty  of  holi- 
ness. It  is  a  quaint  little  programme,  of  half  a  century  ago, 
that  gives  the  order  of  that  first  Consecration  Service,  and  but 
one  copy  is  now  known  to  be  in  existence.  A  quartette  choir 
and  a  young  organist  from  Salem  furnished  the  simple  music, 
and  one  of  the  Vestrymen,  Alonzo  Lewis,  wrote  the  Consecra- 
tion Hvmn,  and  full  it  is  of  true  poetry  as  well  as  rhythm. 
Among  those  clergy  who  took  part  in  that  Consecration  Service, 
some  attained  great  eminence  in  the  Church  ;  and  most  of  them 
are  fallen  asleep.  Dr.  Stone,  and  Dr.  Wainwright,  afterwards, 
Bishop  of  New  York,  the  saintly  Dr.  Edson,  Dr.  Vaughn  and 
Dr.  Lewis,  Dr.  Vail,  Bishop  of  Kansas,  and  Dr.  Howe,  Bishop 
of  Central  Pennsylvania,  and  the  great  Dr.  Croswell  were  in 
that  procession,  with  their  future  greatness  and  usefulness  be 
fore  them.  The  local  chronicler  tells  of  the  dinner  at  the  house 
of  Mr.  Davis  (now  the  Home  for  Aged  Women)  after  the  service, 
of  the  Evening  Prayer,  when  Dr.  Stone  preached  and  the  Bishop 


8  AN    HISTORICAL    SERMON. 

ordained  Mr.  Alexander  H.  Cull  to  the  Deaconate,  this,  with 
that  of  Mr.  Jesse  A.  Penniman,  being  the  only  ordinations  that 
have  taken  place  in  our  Church  ;  of  the  first  baptism,  July  16, 
1837  >  and  of  the  first  confirmation,  Feb.  19,  1838.  The  first 
marriage  was  that  of  the  Senior  Warden,  and  the  second,  that 
of  the  Junior  Warden  ;  while  the  first  child  born  in  the  Church 
(1843),  is,  by  the  poetry  of  association,  the  beloved  wife  of  the 
Senior  Warden  of  to-day.  Strangely  enough  reads  the  first 
official  report  to  the  Convention  of  1837,  and  could  the  prophetic 
vision  of  those  who  struggled  and  prayed  and  denied  themselves 
for  the  infant  parish  have  rested  upon  the  magnificent  temple  in 
which  their  children  and,  thank  God,  some  of  them  also,  are 
worshipping  to-day,  they  would  have  declared  that  the  age  of 
miracles  was  by  no  means  past.     The  record  reads,  that  — 

"  This  Parish  has  been  in  existence  a  little  more  than  one 
year.  It  was  formed  principally  out  of  new  materials,  and  its 
original  was  quite  small.  The}-  have,  however,  done  well  dur- 
ing the  past  year,  in  erecting  a  very  neat  and  commodious 
Church  edifice,  which  has  just  been  completed,  and  opened 
with  good  promise  of  considerable  accession  to  their  strength. 
The  number  of  those  who  are  now  about  to  commence  wor- 
shipping here,  cannot  be  immediately  ascertained.  Divine  ser- 
vice was  regularly  sustained  under  the  ministrations  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Ward,  until  April  last.  They  have  been  continued  since 
that  time  under  their  present  minister,  with  the  interruption  of  a 
few  Sundays,  occasioned  by  the  loss  of  their  old  place  of  wor- 
ship by  fire"  (Masonic  Temple).  "There  have  been  a  few 
constant  and  faithful  attendants  upon  these  services,  and  it  is 
believed,  not  without  spiritual  benefit.  The  Communion  has 
never  been  administered  in  this  Parish  ;  there  are  several  con- 
nected with  it  who  are  ready  and  desirous  to  be  confirmed,  and 


AN    HISTORICAL    SERMON.  O. 

to  come  to  the  table  of  the  Lord,  at  the  first  opportunity.  A 
Sunday  School  has  just  been  commenced  in  the  new  Church. 
There  have  been  two  infant  baptisms  and  one  burial.  All  con- 
tributions have  gone  towards  defraying  the  expenses  of  the 
Society,  and  it  is  agreeable  to  say  that  the  Church  is  completed 
with  comparatively  very  little  accumulation  of  debt.  Their 
present  minister  is  a  missionary  of  the  Massachusetts  Episcopal 
Convocation. 

[Signed]         GEORGE  WATERS,  Minister:' 

Two  years  later,  the  same  clergyman  remarks,  "  that  this 
Parish  labors  under  pecuniary  embarrassments  at  home,  we 
wish  those  to  bear  in  mind  who  are  called  upon  to  contribute 
somewhat  for  its  present  support  abroad  ;  yet  the  present  ratio 
of  increase,  and  the  circumstances  of  the  place,  certainly 
promise  that  it  may,  and  will  ere  long,  be  able  to  stand  upon  its 
own  foundation  ;  and  shall  it  not  be  the  more  induced,  by  re- 
membrance of  kindness  received,  to  impart  again  of  its  own 
unto  the  destitute,  to  do  as  it  has  been  done  by?  Such  is  the 
economy  of  Christian  benevolence." 

In  the  report  of  1840  presented,  in  the  absence  of  a  resident 
minister,  by  the  Senior  Warden,  he  says  that  "the  pecuniary 
difficulties  which  this  Parish  has  labored  under,  from  the  com- 
mencement, have  been,  and  continue,  a  great  barrier  to  its 
success  ;  and  unless,  in  the  providence  of  God,  some  way  is 
opened,  through  which  its  liabilities  may  be  discharged,  we 
have  strong  fears  for  its  existence." 

After  Mr.  Waters  went  away,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pollard  re- 
mained for  one  year,  and  then  so  difficult  was  it  to  obtain  a 
pastor,  or  to  raise  funds  for  his  support,  that  services  were  sus- 
pended,   although  the  organization  was  kept  up.     Finally,  in 


IO  AN    HISTORICAL    SERMON. 

1S44,  several  new  residents  of  Lynn  joined  forces  with  the 
scattered  remnant  of  the  former  Church  and  united  under 
another  name,  and  from  September  20,  1S44,  this  organization 
has  been  known  as  S.  Stephen's  Church.  The  names  of  the 
corporators  were  Edward  S.  Davis,  William  H.  Hubbard, 
Robert  Farley,  George  M.  Dexter,  Edward  D.  Peters,  Benja- 
min T.  Reed,  Edward  S.  Rand,  William  Foster  Otis,  Edward 
Codman,  Robert  Appleton  and  J.  C.  Brodhead.  Services  were 
at  once  begun  with  the  Rev.  George  D.  Wildes,  afterwards  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Wildes,  as  Rector,  so  well  known  in  connection  with 
the  Church  Congress  as  its  accomplished  Secretary.  He  served 
the  Parish  one  year,  and  in  his  Convention  report  for  1844, 
gives  the  circumstances  under  which  the  present  Parish  was 
organized. 

"  It  is  well  known  that  the  Parish  of  Christ  Church,  con- 
sisting of  but  a  few  families,  and  laboring  under  the  dis- 
couraging burden  of  a  considerable  debt,  has  had  but  a  nominal 
existence  for  some  years.  The  Church  being  held  on  mortgage 
by  an  individual  (not  a  member  of  the  Church),  was  leased  by 
him,  or  others  concerned,  for  various  religious  and  secular  pur- 
poses, and  has  been  thus  used,  or  vacant,  for  some  four  or  five 
years.  Meantime,  those  who  were  communicants,  or  otherwise 
attached  to  the  worship  of  the  Church,  were  scattered  among 
the  various  denominations  of  the  town,  and  the  prospect  of  ever 
uniting  them  again  in  their  household  of  faith  and  worship,  had 
become  but  faint.  God,  however,  in  His  providence  saw  fit,  in 
this  condition  of  the  Parish,  to  raise  up  an  instrument  for  its 
revival.  Through  the  untirincr  exertions  of  a  devoted  and 
liberal  Churchman  of  Boston,  an  attempt  was  made  to  free  the 
Parish  from  the  burden  which  had  so  long  rested  upon  it,  which 
eventually  resulted  in  the  redemption  of  the  mortgage  upon  the 


AN    HISTORICAL    SERMON.  II 

Church,  and  in  the  gathering  together  of  the  scattered  members 
of  the  fold." 

The  Church  property  so  redeemed  was  placed  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Bishop,  together  with  two  other  gentlemen  as 
trustees.  A  Sunday  School  of  thirty  scholars  and  five  teachers 
was  begun,  the  Church  repaired  and  beautified,  and  a  new  era 
seemed  to  open  before  this  Parish  hitherto  so  sorely  tried.  The 
Rev.  Isaac  W.  Hallam  was  Rector  from  February,  1846,  to 
April,  i860.  Mr.  Hallam's  pastorate  of  fourteen  years  was  one 
of  great  usefulness — the  Parish  possessed  itself  of  a  good  Rectorv, 
wholly  paid  for,  and  the  number  of  communicants  increased 
from  twenty-one  to  sixty,  not  yet  a  great  growth,  but  it  was  a 
time  of  holding  fast  to  what  they  had,  and  steadily,  though 
slowly  strengthening  the  Church's  position  in  an  uncongenial 
soil. 

The  Rev.  Edward  H.  True,  in  i860  came,  with  his  earnest 
enthusiasm  and  good  judgment,  to  take  charge  of  the  Parish, 
and  his  three  years'  pastorate  saw  an  increase,  in  all  respects, 
both  in  temporal  and  spiritual  things.  From  1863  to  1870,  the 
Parish  had  for  Rectors,  in  succession,  the  Rev.  George  S.  Paine, 
the  Rev.  Gordon  M.  Bradley,  and  the  Rev.  Benjamin  W.  Att- 
well.  In  July,  1870,  the  Rev.  Edward  L.  Drown,  D.D.,  became 
the  Rector,  and  remained  until  July,  1875.  The  strongest  ele- 
ment in  Dr.  Drown's  administration  was  his  earnest  pulpit  utter- 
ances. His  preaching  won  many  to  the  Church,  and,  through 
it,  to  the  Master's  service,  and  many  of  his  sermons  are  re- 
membered, with  profit,  to-day,  by  those  who  listened  to  them  in 
those  years  gone  by. 

In  January,  1876,  the  Rev.  Louis  DeCormis  became  Rector 


12  AN    HISTORICAL    SERMON. 

of  S.  Stephen's  Parish,  and,  with  one  exception,  his  was  the 
longest  pastorate  in  its  history.  Coming,  in  all  the  freshness  of 
his  young  manhood,  he  gave  to  it  nearly  ten  years  of  service, 
during  which  time  the  number  of  communicants  increased  from 
two  hundred  and  seventy-five  to  four  hundred  ;  and  he  inaugu- 
rated the  Choir  of  men  and  boys,  which  is,  to-day,  the  boast  and 
pride  of  our  Parish  —  a  Choir,  the  members  of  which  give  their 
services,  a  free-will  offering  to  God  —  and  under  the  direction  of 
Mr.  Edward  K.  Weston,  render  chants,  hymns  and  anthems  in 
a  manner  that  needs  no  encomium  from  me,  for  their  praise  is  in 
all  the  churches  :  while  to  the  beloved  and  able  Organist  and 
Choir  Master,  this  Parish  owes  a  debt  of  earnest  gratitude,  and 
his  Rector  is  glad  to  place  on  record  here,  to-day,  his  own  lov- 
ing appreciation  of  his  good  friend's  work,  and  his  personal 
loyalty  to  himself. 

But  Mr.  DeCormis  had  what  few  such  young  pastors  have, 
the  great  satisfaction  of  watching  from  corner-stone  to  cross- 
crowned  tower,-  the  building  of  a  Church,  which  for  beauty, 
richness  of  design  and  perfection  of  detail,  has  few  equals 
among  the  parish  Churches  of  the  land.  To  him,  the  present 
incumbent  owes  much  in  the  very  perfect  record  kept  of  official 
acts  —  the  register  being  a  thing  of  beauty,  and  a  model  to  all 
parishes  and  all  priests  —  and  for  the  kind  and  brotherly  letters 
which  first  welcomed  him  to  the  work,  and  afterward  congratu- 
lated him  and  the  people  upon  the  completion  of  the  Chime  of 
Bells,  for  which  the  late  Rector  himself  had  seen  the  necessity 
and  the  fitness,  but  as  everything  could  not  be  done  at  once, 
this  crowning  and  completing  joy  was  reserved  for  the  next 
incumbent  and  his  first  year's  work. 

To  the  Hon.  Enoch  R.  Mudge  the  Parish  owes  a  debt  in 


AN    HISTORICAL    SERMON.  J3 

the  gift  of  this  superb  Church,  the  interest  upon  which  can  best 
be  paid  by  them  in  keeping  it,  as  they  do,  so  exquisitely  cared 
for  that  dust  anywhere  seems  a  profanation  ;  and  by  adding, 
from  time  to  time,  as  they  have,  objects  of  beauty  and  articles  of 
usefulness,  and  to  maintain  the  dignity  and  beauty  of  the  now 
almost  incomparable  service. 

Not  to  weary  you  with  dry  statistics.  I  desire  to  record  here, 
very  briefly,  for  preservation,  these  records.  From  1837  to  1886 
inclusive,  there  have  been  — 


7S1 

421 
284 
438 


Baptisms,  . 

Confirmations,  .  •  •  •  421 

Marriages,  .  2^4 

Burials,  •  • 

Offerings,  exclusive  of  the  cost  of  the  Church  and 

Rectory,            .  $86,507.77 

The  Cost"' of  the  Church,     .                  •                  •  250,000.00 

The  value  of  the  Rectory,                     .                   •  15,000.00 


Making  the  expenditures  of   mone) 
half  century  of  parish  life, 


during  the 


$35I-5°7-77 


One  year  ago  to-day  the  present  Pastor  preached  his  first 
sermon  as  your  Rector.  It  has  been  a  year  of  great  happiness 
to  him,  for  the  people  have  been  more  than  responsive  to  his 
suggestions — they  have  anticipated  the  needs  of  the  Church,  and 
have  supplied  them.  To  him  and  to  his  family  they  have  been 
all  that  a  kind  and  gracious  Parish  could  be,  and  God  has 
surely  blessed  this  union  of  Pastor  and  people,  both  in  spiritual 
and  in  temporal  things.  There  have  been  eighty-one  baptisms, 
fifty-three  confirmations,  seventeen  marriages  and  twenty-one 
burials ;  and  during  the  conventional  year  the  offerings  have 
amounted  to  $12,245. 


J4 


AN    HISTORICAL    SERMON. 


/ 


/ 


Much  of  the  church  work  has  been  ably_  shared  by  the 
assistant  minister  of  the  Parish,  the  Rev.  E.  B.  Schmidt,  to 
whom  the  people  extended  a  cordial  reception  early  in  June  ; 
and  among  the  many  pleasant  occasions  of  the  year  was  the 
entertainment  afforded  by  the  Choir  in  the  Parish  House,  when 
the  people  gathered  to  bid  the  Curate  welcome,  and  to  enjoy 
the  good  cheer  which  was  made  possible  by  the  generous 
and  gracious  help  of  a  member*  of  the  Parish,  whose  constant 
thoughtfulnesss  has  often  made  happy  his  Rector,  and  the  chor- 
isters, who  have  ever  been  his  chiefest  care. 

The  tablet,  erected  in  the  porch  at  the  tower  entrance, 
records  the  story  of  the  bells  placed  there  by  a  grateful  Parish 
to  the  glory  of  the  Triune  God,  and  in  memory  of  him  who 
gave  the  church  to  us.  The  beautiful  chancel  furniture  —  the 
Bishop's  chair,  the  Rector's  stall  —  within  the  rail,  are  gracious 
memorials  to  departed  worth  and  loveliness.  The  onef  will  ever 
bring  to  mind  a  dear  servant  of  God,  whose  aged  eyes  beheld 
her  children  placed  in  a  home,  where  "  Grandma's  room"  was 
always  the  centre  toward  which  every  home-coming  tended  ; 
and  when  at  last  she  fell  asleep  upon  her  Saviour's  breast,  her 
children  rose  up  and  called  her  "  blessed"  ;  and  the  other}  is  the 
gift  of  one  who  is  ever  his  Rector's  helper ;  and  commemorates 
his  other  self —  the  sweet  and  gentle  wife,  whose  early  entrance 
into  life  eternal  made  earth  poorer,  as  it  made  paradise  richer 
for  her  coming ;  one  whose  character  is  indelibly  stamped, 
thank  God,  upon  her  children,  whose  blessed  heritage  is  the 
memory  of  that  gentle  mother's  life.  And  to-day,  used  for  the 
first  time  in  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion,  is  a  paten 


*  Mr.  W.  H.  Berry.  t  Presented  by  Mrs.  J.  C.  Bennett,  in  memory  of  her  mother. 

I  Presented  by  Mr.  Joseph  B.  Breed,  in  memory  of  his  wife. 


PHOTOMOUNT 
PAMPHLET  BINDER 

Manufactured  by 

SAYLORD  BROS.  Inc. 

Syracuto,  N.  Y. 

Stockton,  Calif. 


BX5920.L9S2N8 

an  historical  sermon  concerning  the 


